Introduction: In India, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme provides a package of services to different groups of the target population. The Anganwadi Centre (AWC) is the focal point for delivery of these services. At AWCs, supplementary food is provided to children below six years, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Aim: To assess the pattern of utilisation of supplementary nutrition by the beneficiaries and to explore the factors leading to non utilisation of supplementary nutrition. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from October 2016 to October 2018 in AWCs in Ganjam district, Odisha, India. Multistage random sampling was used to select the AWCs. By using table of random numbers, 24 AWCs were selected. From each AWC, 12 beneficiaries were selected randomly. So a total of 288 beneficiaries were selected. Out of 288 beneficiaries, 240 beneficiaries were eligible for supplementary nutrition. Rates and proportions were calculated. The Chi-square test was used for testing association between variables. Results: All the AWCs were providing supplementary food as per menu chart and were using standard measure for distribution of raw food. Supplementary food was consumed by 188 (78.3%) beneficiaries. The reason given by most of the respondents {28 (53.8%)} for non utilisation of supplementary nutrition was that they did not like the taste of the food. A statistically significant association was found between utilisation of supplementary nutrition and factors like education, socio-economic status and occupation of women. Conclusion: Although supplementary nutrition was provided by all the AWCs, it was not consumed by some beneficiaries due to lack of variety, taste and bad quality of food. The Take Home Ration (THR) was shared among the family members resulting in dilution of the service.

Background: The gold standard test for detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) recommended by WHO is real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), which has a turnaround time of five to six hours. Abbott ID NOW (Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough, Inc., Scarborough, ME, USA), the cartridge-based loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, was approved by FDA for Emergency Use Authorization as rapid point of care testing. The present study was planned to evaluate the performance of the cartridge-based Abbott ID NOW test by comparing it to the currently used standard probe-based real-time RT-PCR method for detection of SARS-CoV-2.Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in the eastern part of India after getting institutional ethics committee (IEC) approval. Two hundred fifty-nine cases of various age groups of both sexes who were advised for testing for SARS-CoV-2 were included in the study. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected according to protocol advisory by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India. Dry swabs were sent for Abbott ID NOW testing and swabs in viral transport medium were sent for probe-based RT-PCR assay using the CoviPath kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Bangalore, India). The data were collected and statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for ID NOW were calculated taking RT-PCR as the gold standard.Results: Out of 259 patients enrolled in the study, 49% were symptomatic for coronavirus disease 2019 . The prevalence rate of SARS-CoV-2 was 20.84% among the study population. Sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative predictive values of ID NOW test in comparison to RT-PCR assay was found to be 87%, 98%, 92.1% and 96.8% respectively. ID NOW detected seven out of 54 (12.9%) cases as false negative who were found to be positive with RT-PCR, with mean Ct value of the target genes >34.Conclusions: In this study the overall sensitivity for ID NOW assay was found to be lower, but specificity, positive and negative predictive values were found to be higher. It had the highest correlation to RT-PCR among symptomatic patients and at higher viral loads. Due to the ease of use and shortest result time for detecting COVID-19, ID NOW test could be used as a point-of-care test. But for all tests, the results should be interpreted according to the clinical and epidemiological context.

Introduction: Colistin is considered to be the last resort for the management of infections caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacilli (GNB). However, in the recent past, there has been a rise in colistin resistance among MDR isolates in clinical settings with no profound data on the incidences and causes. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of colistin-resistance (CLR) in MDR isolates collected from different intensive care units (ICUs) and to determine the clinical outcomes of the patients.Materials and methods: A prospective study was conducted in the ICU of a tertiary care hospital in Eastern Odisha, India from March 2019 to February 2020. MDR GNB isolates from different clinical samples of ICU patients, not intrinsically resistant to colistin, were included in this study. Samples collected for culture and sensitivity testing were processed as per standard guidelines in the microbiology laboratory. MDR organisms were examined for colistin susceptibility by the broth dilution method. Clinical data was collected from hospital electronic medical records and presented as percentage, number (N), and median (range).Results: The prevalence of colistin resistance MDR GNB was found to be 19.6% in the present study. Colistin resistance among the MDR isolates was found to be the highest (9.2% for Klebsiella pneumonia followed by 5% for Escherichia coli). CLR drug-resistant isolates were commonly (28.8%) isolated from samples of respiratory tract infections and the majority (54.1%) were from neurology ICU. In this study, co-morbidity was not found among 57.9% of the ICU patients and recovery was maximum i.e., 74.2%.Conclusion: This study found the prevalence of colistin resistance to be high (19.6%) among all MDR GNB isolates from samples of ICU patients, Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli commonly acquire colistin resistance. Patients in the neurology ICU were frequently infected with CLR MDR strains. Most of the patients who recovered were without any underlying comorbidities. Prolonged hospital stay and direct antibiotic pressure in the hospital can lead to the development of CLR variants.

Background: Unmet need for family planning refers to the percentage of fecund women of reproductive age either married or in union, women who either wish to postpone the next birth (spacers) or who wish to stop child bearing (limiters) but are not using a contraceptive method. This clearly indicates a gap between a woman's reproductive intention and current contraceptive behaviour. The objectives of the present study was to determine the prevalence of unmet need for family planning, to assess the association between socio-demographic characteristics and unmet need of family planning, to identify the reasons for unmet need. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted from June to August 2018 in Ankuli (UHTC). A total of 188 ever married women in the reproductive age group were selected by simple random sampling. Results: Out of 188 women, 41 (21.8%) had no need for contraception and needs for family planning of 78 (41.5%) women had been met. The prevalence of unmet need for family planning was 36.7% consists of 24 (12.8%) spacing need and 45 (23.9%) limiting need. It was found that age, education of women, age at marriage, number of living children, contraceptive knowledge and inter-spousal communication were significantly associated with unmet need for family planning. The most common reason for not using any contraceptive method was fear of side effects (40.6%). Conclusions: The unmet need for family planning was high and in order to reduce the gap, the program should address the above reasons.

Background: COVID-19 vaccine was launched in India on 16 January 2021, prioritizing health care workers. There is lot of apprehensions and anxiety regarding uptake of the vaccine among them. So, determining the acceptability of a COVID-19 vaccine by healthcare professionals will also guide future vaccination studies. Objective: To know the willingness for COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers in a tertiary care hospital and to explore the factors responsible for unwillingness of COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among health care workers of a tertiary care hospital of Odisha. Those who refused to participate in the study, pregnant & lactating mothers and those who participated in COVID 19 vaccine clinical trial were excluded from the study. Data was collected from 746 HCWs for a period of three months i.e., from January 2021 to April 2021. Results: 78.8% HCWs were willing to get vaccinated with COVID 19 vaccine. Also 78.6% HCWs were willing to get their family members vaccinated with COVID 19 vaccine. But 53.6% study participants were not willing for COVID 19 vaccination if they do not get the option of free vaccine. Major reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy were concerns about the safety (60.8%) and efficacy of the vaccine (58.8%). Vaccine acceptance was more in older age group, Hindus, rural residents and those who have already suffered from COVID 19. Conclusion: Effort should be made to eliminate the doubts and concerns regarding the COVID 19 vaccine.